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Drawing the Human Face
The following tutorials are intended to be guidelines for drawing the human face. Remember, no two faces are exactly the same and people have varying proportions. These tutorials will help you learn the basics of drawing the human face and correct proportions.
Head Shape
The human head comes in a variety of different shapes. Look at yourself in a mirror or a photo. What shape matches the closest? People who have heart shaped heads often have a “widow’s peak” which is when the hair grows in a “V” at the top of the forehead. If you still aren’t sure what shape of head you have, look at your chin. If your chin is square-ish in shape, you probably have a square shaped head. If your chin is more pointed, you probably have a heart or oblong shaped head.
- Practice drawing the shape of your head in the space below. You should draw the shape of your head at least 3 times before moving on to the next step.
Face Proportions
Learning how to create the correct proportions for a portrait may seem really difficult at first, but there are a few tricks that can really help you out!
- Draw a line of symmetry down the middle of the head. This will help you draw the face symmetrically.
- Draw a horizontal line in the middle of the head. This is called the eye line. When drawing the eyes, imagine there is another eye in between the two eyes. Most eyes are about an eye’s width apart.
- Draw another horizontal line about half way between the eye line and the bottom of the chin. This is called the nose line.
- Draw another horizontal line about 1/3 way between the nose and chin. This is called the mouth line.
- When drawing the ears, the tops of the ears usually line up with the eye line.
- When drawing hair, the hair line usually covers part of the forehead. Some people have a lot of hair or bangs, so their forehead is covered with hair. Some people have less hair, so their forehead is less covered. Make sure the hair line goes to at least the tops of the ears. Most people have some form of sideburns that go next to the ears.
Remember, your eyes may look different from these examples. Eyes come in all shapes and sizes! In order to make it look like the eye is looking at something, draw the iris in the corner of the eye.
Drawing the Eyebrows
Eyebrows are another way to show how someone is feeling. Raised or overly arched eyebrows can express surprise or excitement. Downward eyebrows can express anger or frustration. Eyebrows are actually quite easy to draw. All you need to do is draw a single line for the shape of the eyebrow. This line may be very curved , slightly curved, or even straight. Then draw
smaller lines along the single line to make the little eyebrow hairs. Males often have thicker eyebrows than females.
Drawing the Nose
Noses also come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
- Draw two small elliptical shapes and fill them in with your pencil. These are the nostrils.
- Draw a “U” shape between the two nostrils. This is the bottom of the nose.
- Draw 2 curves at either side of the nostrils.
- Add shading above the curves and even under the bottom of the nose to make it look more realistic.
Drawing the Mouth
Mouths are arguably one of the most difficult parts of a face to draw realistically. However, once you practice enough drawing many different kinds of mouths, you will find it gets easier and easier.
- Start by drawing a line for the opening of the mouth. If the mouth is meant to look sad, make sure the line moves downward on both sides. If the mouth is meant to look happy, make sure the line moves upward on both sides.
- Draw another line parallel to the line already drawn to create a shape. This shape will look like a flying bird shape .This is the upper lip.
- Shade in the upper lip lightly with your pencil. Draw a curved line below the upper lip. This is the lower lip.
- Shade the lower lip with your pencil. Add a shadow just below the lower lip to create depth. You can add details like the small lines on the bottom lip.
Practice drawing Noses
Draw 3 different noses in the boxes below. Make sure to include shading to make the noses look more realistic.
Practice drawing Eyebrows
Draw 3 pairs of eyebrows in the boxes below. Each pair should represent a different emotion like anger, sadness, curiosity, etc.
Practice drawing Mouths
Draw 5 different mouths in the boxes below. Make sure to include shading to make the mouths look more realistic.
Putting It All Together
Draw the human head and features of the face using correct proportions. Draw the line of symmetry, eye line, nose line, and mouth line to help you draw the features in the correct places. Add a hairline and ears too! Feel free to add other details like jewelry, makeup, and additional shading.
